The 5 stages of voting, in the afternoon roundup

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance... in the Republican primary
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The Anchoress is asking, What's Wrong With the World? and she wants you to answer in 100 words or less.

It's a sign of my present state of mind that I can't even start to tell you, but it has a lot to do with politics.

I'm looking into taking tango lessons: Tango is difficult enough it should take all my concentration to do well in it, and the physical activity should keep my mind off politics when I'm not blogging about... politics.

I must be going through some developmental stage, or maybe one of the above primary stages.
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A friend and I were discussing this article, The Failure of Normality: The unhappy lessons of the Thompson campaign

Thompson didn't give off the usual political vibe: the gnawing need to please, the craving for the public's love. A few voters and journalists found this refreshing, many more found it insulting. Some just found it fascinating, in a clinical sort of way: What kind of politician isn't consumed by politics--and what kind of campaign would such a politician run? Well, now we know. If Thompson could plausibly avoid an overnight campaign trip, he did, preferring to return home to his wife and children in suburban Virginia. He spent an inordinate amount of time with his briefing books.

When I remarked to my friend that Fred's exactly the kind of guy I like, he replied that I obviously like guys that are too sane to be politicians, a point Andrew Ferguson makes in his article,

The man or woman who seeks out such a life and enjoys its discomforts is not normal. Not crazy necessarily, but not normal, and probably, when the chips are down, not to be trusted, especially when the purpose of it all is to acquire power over other people (also called, in the delicate language of contemporary politics, "public service" or "getting things done on behalf of the American people"). The case is made, in defense of the contemporary campaign, that this is an efficient if unlovely way to choose leaders: It winnows out those who lack the stamina and discipline necessary to lead a rich, large, powerful, and complicated country. By this argument, Thompson failed because he deserved to.

But the opposite case is easier to make--that the modern campaign excludes anyone who lacks the narcissism, cold-bloodedness, and unreflective nature that the process requires and rewards.

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Gerard has Obama: A Progressive for Progress! Now with Liberal Substance!

But artists like Fairey, and they are legion in our society, are really just -- like their fans -- playing at feeling oppressed. They actually have no experience with a real oppressive society. If they had their lives and work would not be nearly so glib.

An alternate point of view is on display daily at a site called "The People's Cube." This site is run by a talented artist who grew up under real oppression in the Soviet Union and managed to get out and start a new life here; a life who's liberty he values. He's not a "pretend" propaganda artist, but a man with experience in the real thing. His name is Oleg Atbashian.

Over at the People's Cube I found this: Roger Waters Brings 'The Wall' To Muslim Countries

Roger Waters takes 'The Wall' Concerts to 57 Islamic Countries to Protest against Sharia Law and Execution of Homosexuals by having Walls Fall on Them

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Babalu has a Cuban black bean soup/chili for Super Bowl Sunday.
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Doug Ross asks, "Would you be apprehensive about driving across The Millau Viaduct?". while Matt Sanchez posts on the Bible banging French.
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Bill: "We Just Have to Slow Down Our Economy" to Fight Global Warming

Why don't you start flying commercial, Bill?

Richard asks This is global warming?
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Tango time:




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